Happy Birthday
by Sirithiliel
Summary: It's Mokuba's birthday, and Kaiba has let him invite Yugi and Co. The party goes fine until Yami makes an offhand comment that angers Ryou. So he's determined to win the Scavenger Hunt Mokuba set up. Even if he needs Yami Bakura's help.


Disclaimer: Anything that resembles another's work is not mine.

(.........) Yami's thinking

/........./ Hikari's thinking

"........." Normal speech

'.........' Normal thoughts

(A/N: .........) Author's Note

Summary: Deal with the Devil, Part III. Mokuba has a birthday party and invites everyone to it. Ryou gets angry at a snide comment from Yami, so he decides to win that evening's games. Even if he has to use Yami Bakura's help........

In the series of my Deal with the Devil

Thrill of the Game

Two of a Kind

Happy Birthday

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! SEVENTEEN FINALLY!

Happy Birthday

The phone was ringing, and it was getting on Bakura's nerves.

"Ryou? If you don't answer the phone I'm going to have to do something drastic!" Yami Bakura howled, but there was no answer. With a growl, he forced himself out of the nice, warm, cozy bed he had been laying in and stalked over to the phone.

"WHAT exactly do you want?" He snarled. Where was Ryou?

"Bakrua-kun!" Came a cheerful voice on the other end.

Yami Bakura resisted the urge to groan. It was the youngest Kaiba brat. Even though Bakura had tried to steal his soulless body at one time, Mokuba had insisted on trying to be his friend and had taken a liking to him.

How pathetic.

"What do you want?" He asked again, toning the volume and anger in his voice down.

"My birthday party is two days from now and Seto said I can invite anyone I wanted!" Mokuba squealed happily, and Bakura could just picture him jumping up and down.

"And you're inviting me?" Bakura asked, rather taken aback.

"And Ryou, Yugi, and all the others! All your friends!" Mokuba chirped.

Bakura snorted at the words "All your friends." As if he was friends with THAT lot. But it might be kind of fun........

"Alright. We'll go." Bakura said.

"Yay! I can't wait! Get me a good present!" Mokuba said, and hung up.

Bakura shook his head. "A present. Right. I'll let Ryou pick. Ryou? RYOU!" He shouted, walking through the house.

He spotted a note, and reached over. Ryou had taught him Japanese and English, so he understood those.

"Bakura, I went to Yugi's.

Ryou."

Ah, so he was at the Pharaoh twerp's house. How nice. Bakura shrugged and locked up the house as he left.

Ryou giggled as Joey and Tristan began their usual antics, with Duke providing support.

Yami and Yugi were dueling, and Ryou was watching it all. He was having a good time, was able to relax without truly worrying about what his yami would do next or what could go wrong.

The bell above the Kame Shop door rang as someone entered.

Yugi, who was watching the store, looked up.

"Good Morn – "he stopped as he stared into the smirking red-brown eyes of Yami Bakura.

"What are you doing here?" Yami growled.

"Seeing Ryou." Bakura answered back cheekily. Yami scowled.

"I thought you were asleep...." Ryou began, and Bakura scowled.

"I was, but the Ra-cursed phone went off and woke me up." Bakura said. Ryou ran a hand through his hair.

"You didn't do anything drastic, did you? I can't keep buying new things because you send them to the Shadow Realm as soon as I install them. Then I have to buy new ones and we start all over again." Ryou said firmly.

Bakura blinked. "No! I just answered the phone." He rolled his eyes, as if Ryou was being hopelessly dense.

"What did you say? Who was it and who shall I be expecting to complain?" Ryou sighed. Bakura glared as the others in the room snickered.

"I answered the phone, took a message, and hung up. No threats or insults this time, Ryou. You won't get someone complaining." He flinched slightly. "On the contrary, you might get someone thanking you and eagerly awaiting you."

"What? What's going on?" Ryou asked, wide eyed.

"The little Kaiba brat.........er, Mokuba, has invited you and I to his birthday party." Bakura said, and Ryou sighed in relief, then blinked again.

"He invited US? When?"

"Two days from now. You can get his present. I don't have a clue what to get." Bakura said, shrugging.

"And how is it that you were invited as well?" Yami growled.

"I don't know why the brat invited me! But I decided to go because it is an opportunity to annoy you." Bakura said truthfully.

The phone rang, interrupting anything else he was going to say.

Yugi went to answer it.

"Hello? Oh, hey Mokuba. Yeah? Uh-huh..........sure thing! Yep. They're all here. Sure! See ya then!" Yugi hung up and skipped back over to the waiting group.

"We're ALL going over to Mokuba's in two days. He invited everyone." Yugi said, smiling broadly.

"Joy." Yami Bakura muttered.

"Oh, thank you Seto for letting me invite my friends!" Mokuba cheered, hugging his brother.

Kaiba rolled his eyes but smiled fondly at his little brother. Mokuba was the only reason he would put up with those idiots and psychos.

Maybe inviting Yugi and his friends wouldn't have been too bad, but inviting Yami Bakura asked for trouble. But Mokuba had a odd liking for Yami Bakura, which Kaiba couldn't explain, so he shrugged it off and allowed his little brother his fun.

It wasn't as if he couldn't just kick the spirit out if he caused too much trouble.

"We'll have cake, and I'll find some games, and everything else and this will be so much fun I love you forever Seto! This will be the best birthday party!" Mokuba rambled on as he walked with his brother down Kaiba Corps' long halls.

"May I ask why you wanted to invite them?" Kaiba wondered.

"Silly!" Mokuba giggled. "Yugi 'cause he's fun. Yami because I wouldn't want him left out, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Tea, and Ryou because I like them. And Bakura because he's funny!"

In Kaiba's mind, Yami Bakura was NOT funny. But if Mokuba enjoyed him, might as well.

"Let's go get ready then."

Kaiba called everyone, telling them to come early to help decorate.

Or, as he put it, "Since I'm taking precious time and patience to let Mokuba invite you over, you might as well be useful and help."

So, sending Mokuba off with a bodyguard to entertain himself until the party, everyone else came over and helped Kaiba decorate the huge mansion.

They weren't using all the rooms, but the ones they were using were rather large.

Ryou was immediately nominated to cook the snacks and cake, while Tea volunteered to hang the banner that read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOKUBA!"

Duke, Tristan and Joey were picking at Kaiba every chance they got while they hauling in the gifts and putting them on a table.

Yugi and Yami were trying to help Ryou with the cake, but were just getting in the way.

"Yami, would you go help Joey and Tristan? I think I can handle this on my own." Ryou said, trying to be polite but get the point across that all the ancient Pharaoh was doing was messing it up.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Ryou was too nice, sometimes.

"Why don't you run along and play?" he barked, and Yami scowled at him before sulking off, with a sheepishly smiling Yugi following.

Ryou sighed. "Thanks, Kaiba."

"Call me Seto."

Ryou blinked. "Huh?"

"If you call me Kaiba, you might confuse Mokuba, as he is called that sometimes. Call me Seto for now." Kaiba said, and left the room.

"Interesting. Guy was actually being nice." Yami Bakura remarked, as he materlized in the real world.

Joey sneaked into the room while Ryou was distracted, and took a freshly backed cookie in each hand.

"JOEY!" Ryou protested, and the blonde grinned as he fled the room.

With a sigh, Ryou decided to use drastic measures to stop the stealing of his precious snacks.

"Bakura? Would you guard all the food I make and make sure NO ONE takes any before I say they can?" Ryou pleaded, and added. "You can use any means short of killing, soul stealing, seriously wounding, or sending them to the Shadow Realm."

"Really?" Bakura purred, and grinned with no small amount of insane glee. He snickered, and went to lean casually on the counter near the snacks, but not near enough to look as if he was guarding them.

Ryou shook his head. Bakura was obviously giving anyone the chance to steal some snacks, and he would pounce on them as soon as they tried.

(About half an hour and many injuries later.)

The house was decorated, the presents were piled up, all the snacks and the cake were made, and Tristan, Joey, and Duke were nursing bruises from Yami Bakura's snack-guarding-rampage-of-justice.

Mokuba was to be home soon, and everyone took hiding places. (Though Kaiba didn't hide and Bakura decided that instead of hiding in an undignified way, he would continue guarding snacks.)

Voices were heard and Mokuba walked through the door.

"Hello?" Mokuba called. He couldn't see. (They had shut the lights off.)

"SURPRISE!" Everyone (minus Kaiba and Bakura.) shouted. Mokuba jumped, then squealed with glee. He jumped up and down and hugged everyone.

"I didn't know you guys would already be here!" Mokuba cheered.

"Okay, formalities over, let's get some snacks!" Joey said, running into the kitchen.

"AARGGH!"

At hearing Joey's frightened yell, everyone ran into the kitchen to see what the matter was.

Joey was cowering away from Bakura, who stood in front of the table that had the snacks and cake on it. Bakura had his teeth bared in a snarl and was twirling one of the large kitchen knives in one hand.

"Bakura!" Ryou shouted. The Tomb Robber turned to look at Ryou.

"I'm just doing what you told me." He whined, which caused Mokuba to giggle and a couple of raised eyebrows among the others.

"That's right." Ryou realized. "Alright, it's fine for people to get snacks now." Bakura nodded and moved aside, letting the group through. He glared at a couple who shot him smiles, but they only grinned wider.

"Bakura!" Mokuba chirped, hugging the Tomb Robber like he had everyone else. Bakura winced at the contact and stiffened, but let the ten year old do as he pleased.

Part of this came from the fact that Kaiba was watching his little brother and the ancient spirit closely.

Part because Ryou was watching closely.

And because Yami was watching closely.

And because a small amount (really, really small. Almost non-existent.) part of him liked it.

"PRESENTS!" Mokuba cheered suddenly, bouncing back from Bakura and running into the living room, where he dove into his presents.

The others filed in and sat down to watch, eating Ryou's yummy snacks.

Bakura chomped into a chocolate chip cookie with gusto. He loved Ryou's chocolate chip cookies. He loved chocolate period. It had been a great experience the first time Ryou gave him some.

"Thanks, Seto!" Mokuba cried, staring at a collection of DVD's.

Joey and Tristan had banded together and gotten him some play station games. Duke brought him a Dungeons and Dice Monster game. Tea got him a friendship bracelet. (A/N: I hate Tea. Sorry all you Tea-liking people, but it's the truth.) Ryou had given him a chess game that looked Ancient Egyptian.

"What's this?" Mokuba asked in wonder.

"Something from Bakura's soul room. It was called Senet in Egypt." Ryou replied, and Mokuba's eyes widened in joy. He hugged both Ryou and Bakura.

Yami and Yugi had gotten him (what a surprise?) Duel Monster Cards.

After that they sang happy birthday and cut the cake.

Mokuba went digging around in his presents, popping in the movie and testing the new games. He let Yami and Yugi play with his Dungeons and Dice monsters game, and went through his new cards.

"Wow! Look at this!" He ran over to Ryou, and showed him a card.

"Neat, a holographic Man-Eater Bug." Ryou said, admiring it. (A/N: Those really exist, I have one!)

"You can have it." Mokuba said.

"Huh? No, it's your present." Ryou protested.

"Yeah, but you got me a real game from Ancient Egypt, so you and Bakura can have that card! Don't you use the Bug a lot?" Mokuba asked innocently, tilting his head.

Ryou suppressed a smile as behind Mokuba's head Tristan was pale. Tristan had been trying to save Mokuba's soulless body from Pegasus's guards when Yami Bakura tried to steal him. He had used a Man-Eater Bug against the guards, and that had spooked Tristan out.

"Yeah. Thanks, Mokuba." Ryou said, and Yami Bakura (who was kicking Joey's butt in one of the new video games) nodded as well.

"Your welcome!"

The rest of the party went on in similar fashion, and then Mokuba went to go check on something.

He bounced back in the room moments later, smiling widely.

"The Scavenger Hunt is ready!" He cheered. "Everyone get a partner, let's get started!"

Yami and Yugi went together.

Tristan and Joey.

Duke and Tea.

Ryou and Bakura.

Mokuba and Kaiba.

"You all know I'm going to win, right?" Yami stated calmly.

"You wish." Kaiba sneered back.

"Yeah, Yami. Why do you have to win all the time?" Joey said.

"I'm the King of Games." Yami said.

"Then why do we even bother play?" Duke wondered.

"The challenge.......oh. I see. Well, it will be close. Maybe one of you will win. Joey, you're good. And Kaiba's good at games. So is Duke. So..........." Yami said.

"What about me or Ryou?" Bakura snarled, interrupting.

Yami blinked. "What? Oh, yeah. You're a challenge too Bakura." Yami said, waving a hand dismissively.

Bakura felt disappointment from Ryou across their link. Evidently his hikari was tired of not being considered a challenge or up to their level.

Truth be told, Ryou was every bit as good a dueler as Bakura was. He just didn't duel as much.

Growling, Bakura made up his mind. He and Ryou would show them. They would win this scavenger hunt and outwit the pharaoh his luck with games.

Ryou heard these thoughts, glancing up in surprise, but smiling slightly.

"Game rules!" Mokuba called. "The servants have hidden the items around the grounds and the house. Seto or I don't know where they're hidden. No one can steal from another player. There is only one item from the list. So only one person can get it. Whoever gets the most by the end of thirty minutes wins the game!" He handed everyone a list.

They spent some time looking at the objects.

A marble.

A rubber band.

A fork.

The Ace of spades.

A fish carved from stone.

A comb.

A spoon.

A ribbon.

A rubber duck.

Two dice.

Fingernail clippers.

Scissors.

Toy airplane.

A penny. (marked to avoid cheating.)

A nickel. (Marked to avoid cheating.)

A toy car.

A bouncy ball.

A candle.

A packet of matches.

A highlighter marker.

A pencil.

A bell.

Pad of yellow sticky notes.

An apple.

A floppy disk.

A sock.

A letter opener.

And you get the idea. There were a lot of items since there were a lot of people.

"Game start." Kaiba said, and Mokuba immediately hauled him upstairs to look.

Yami and Yugi went outside.

Tristan and Joey followed Kaiba upstairs.

Duke and Tea went after Yami.

Ryou and Bakura decided to use the advantage of having the whole bottom floor of the mansion to themselves.

"So, how do we go about looking for these things and winning this game?" Ryou asked. Just searching the bottom floor would be a tedious task.

"Simple. We cheat." Bakura said.

Ignoring Ryou's protest, he focused his power through the Ring.

"Find the nearest item on this baka list." He commanded, and the glow brightened and one tine lifted and pointed down a hallway.

He took off, and Ryou decided to try it. He was trying to be up to the level of the others, meaning he couldn't let his yami do all the work.

"Find the next nearest item." Ryou asked, and his Ring, the original Ring, glowed and did the same as Bakura's.

He followed the glow and stopped in the room it was pointing at. There were a lot of bookcases. He seemed to be in the library

He walked in and the tine pointed towards a fireplace.

He walked up to it.

Now the tine pointed to the mantel.

Upon it sat a small marble.

The rest of the hunt was spent in similar fashion. Bakura and Ryou found the items hidden downstairs.

They went outside next, as the upstairs floor already had two groups looking.

Yami and Yugi were hunting in the gardens, and Joey and Tristan were wandering around a fountain.

"Find the nearest item." Bakura commanded.

"Help me." Ryou asked.

Both lit up and pointed the way. The two white haired boys split up and went off.

"Come on, Joey! I know I saw a ribbon tied to that tree branch!" Tristan yelled up, pointing to the list.

"Awright, awright! I'm going up!" Joey said, grabbing a hold of the branch and started climbing.

"You're right! There is a ribbon here! Ha, this will be our third one!" Joey crowed, and turned down to smile at Tristan.

"Yeah.......Hey! No fair!" Tristan began before shouting and pointing.

Joey turned around and saw Yami Bakura sitting on the branch no less than three feet away, the ribbon in hand.

"It is fair. You stopped to talk instead of look!" Bakura stated, grinning. He slipped off the tree noiselessly while Joey fell on his butt.

"Lead me." Bakura whispered, and the Ring glowed faintly. No use letting the others know what he and Ryou were doing. They already had several items, so they should be in the lead.

"TIME'S UP!" he heard. He sighed and headed back towards the mansion.

They met in the large dining room, and sat separate with their partners.

"Okay. First I'll count mine." Kaiba said, and Mokuba emptied their bag.

"We have a rubber duck, a comb, fingernail clippers, scissors, a calculator, and a toy airplane." Mokuba counted. "Six items."

"We'll go!" Joey called, and dumped his bag out.

"We've got the spoon and the fish carved from stone." Joey said, pointing at the items.

"Two, mutt. Great job." Kaiba said mockingly. Joey growled.

To avoid a fight, Tea emptied her bag.

"We have five items." She said. Duke counted them off.

"The two dice, the Ace card of spades, the toy car, and the bouncy ball." Duke said.

"We'll go." Yami said, and Yugi went through their bag.

"A fork, the rubber band, the penny, the candle, the matches, the bell, and the highlighter." Yugi said. "That puts us into the lead."

"Now our turn." Bakura growled.

He reached down and pulled out the first items.

"A marble. The ribbon."

Ryou reached in.

"A pencil. Those little yellow sticky notes, a apple."

Bakura took up the count.

"A pocket watch, the floppy disk, a sock, a letter opener, and a nickel." He said. "We win."

The others stared. They won? Yami looked as if a truck hit him. He had lost a game.

"Great job!" Mokuba cheered.

That night, after the people had left and Mokuba and Seto were alone, the younger Kaiba turned to his brother.

"That was the BEST birthday party ever! Thanks, Seto!" Mokuba hugged his brother.

"Your welcome, Mokuba. Happy Birthday." Seto said, smiling down gently at his brother.

(With Ryou and Bakura.)

"Thanks, yami." Ryou said softly as they sat in the living room.

"For what?" Bakura asked, watching the light on the holographic Man-Eater Bug's shiny surface.

"For going to the party. For not messing it up, and especially for helping me show up Yami." Ryou giggled at the last thought. Bakura smiled. A genuine, non-insane smile.

"Your welcome, Ryou."

(End Story.)

A bit OOC with Bakura and some others, but oh well. Wish I could have gotten this up on my birthday, but early is alright. Hope you guys enjoy!


End file.
